The NBA decided this year’s All-Star captains Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James would select their respective teams just prior to the marquee event tipping off Sunday night.
But Antetokounmpo needed to read the rules of the playground-style draft a little bit better.
Antetokounmpo and James were tasked with assembling their teams by choosing reserve players first followed by their starting units to avoid having a last-player-picked scenario. But the Greek Freak got greedy.
Just minutes into the draft, Antetokounmpo tried to select Memphis Grizzlies standout guard Ja Morant. Antetokounmpo set things up perfectly, calling Morant “one of the most exciting rising stars, superstars” before revealing the pick. He then was let down when TNT’s Ernie Johnson informed him that Morant was a starter.
Even Antetokounmpo seemed surprised that he couldn’t draft Morant at the moment, which you can watch play out here:
The All-Star reserves in the background had a good laugh from themselves over Antetokounmpo’s gaffe. And James even joked that Giannis “was trying anything” to gain the upper hand in the competition.
While Antetokounmpo had to go in a different direction with that pick, he ended up getting Morant on his team as well as Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum later in the draft.
